KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CBS News) – United Airlines says it’s investigating after mistakenly flying a Kansas family’s dog to Japan. CBS affiliate KCTV reports that Kara Swindle and her two children flew from Oregon to Kansas City, Missouri, Tuesday on a United flight. They went to a cargo facility to pick up 10-year-old Irgo, a German shepherd, but were instead given a Great Dane. Swindle, of Wichita, Kansas, learned Irgo had been put on a flight to Japan, where the Great Dane was supposed to go. The… (losangeles.cbslocal.com) Plus d'info...

Great, now commercial air travel is ruined for Irgo. From now on it's private jet travel or nothing. It would be cruel and tortuous to make him go back to flying coach after he's tasted the bliss of corporate air travel.

Yeah, but I heard his seat still didn't recline more than 20mm, the in-flight movie had no audio, they didn't have his brand of beverages, and there were two kittens in the seat behind him that didn't stop crying for the whole trip.

Nothing new under United's "friendly skies".. .UA is becoming a whatever airline which you fly when you have no other options: horrible ground service, less than acceptable business class cabin and non-responsive customer service makes it less and less attractive to frequent flyers on long-range flights...I thought they will learn the lessons of previous bankruptcies' protection experiences but apparaently they do not ! and complaining about competition from European or middle eartern "subsidized" airliners won't explain or justify anything in the less than acceptable service provided to loyal customers

Maybe it's time to lighten up on the siege mentality that pervades flying. We no longer hear the threat level is "orange". Perhaps we need to keep shoes on, give up the liquids fantasy, and body scans that can't seem to sort out the lint in my pants pocket.

This never happen in the good old days of flying because old school workers had aviation mentality. It's the mentality of the people working in the airline industry today. They have all the latest computer technology before them and they still cannot get it right

Actually, it very well might have. My girlfriend was flying from Cincinnati to Denver via St Louis in the mid-70's and while seated on her flight happened to glance out the window to see her dog being loaded aboard the neighboring aircraft. She raised hue and cry, and was able to get her dog loaded onto her flight.

In the late 60's my black lab was sent to Zurich instead of Nassau from Boston. This was a trip home after summer vacation. The Nassau/Boston r/t was an annual event for several years. Dog arrived home safely the following week!

United Airlines vows to make changes after puppy dies in overhead ...Video for United Airlines Makes another mistake today▶ 2:03abcnews.go.com/.../united-airlines-vows-make-puppy-dies-overhead-...2 days ago Unacceptable!

This will probably be an unpopular comment, but I really don't see the point in bringing your animal with you when flying.

I have a beautiful German Shepherd, but she doesn't have to go everywhere I go. Leave the animals with friends, family or neighbors and stop making everyone else pay (allergies, peace and quiet, etc) for your animal addiction!

Much of society has become ridiculous when it comes to pets. When I got to stores (even food and grocery stores), 30 to 50 percent of the patrons have animals with them. I even saw a guy walking his cat down the aisles on a leash! Come on folks!

I am convinced that the flight attendants and luggage handlers today are chosen based on affirmative-action quotas, not based on their skills or even IQ.I travel a lot by US carriers (work related), and have seen so many examples that even making me wonder if they do it on purpose sometimes, to "stick it to the man".

Not at all, my experience shows that even long time career staff seem not interested in promoting their company's image...three flights on over the oceans trips on business class (three incidents: flight cancellation and horrible process to leave the plane, recover bags and find an alternative flight....seat change, no working video and audio system, lack of responsiveness of cabin crew) and always the same advice: write to customer service...my response was I'm not gone hire an assistant for the purpose of complaining about UA bad service...instead I will keep looking for more reliable carrier for my next trips which I have done and will be doing as much as I can. Since these incidents occurred, I flew with Ethiopian Airlines, Lufthansa, Air France and Etihad....No comparison and no brainer UA is last !

But ultimately, legally, it's the owner responsibility to care for the pet. Related to the other incident: If you think that a certain action puts his life in danger, you should NOT do it. Even if that means you will have to lose that flight.Pay an extra seat, don't shove your dog in the overhead bin to save some money!

I think they all are horrible... Used to be fun to fly in the old days.. People respected each other, We had a little more room, and flying was pretty glamorous and airline employees had to wear suits or at least dress pants, tie, and jacket... Once that went away, things went down hill fast.

United Airlines wrongly shipped a Kansas-bound pet dog to Japan, the second embarrassment this week for the airline and a "nightmare" for the Swindle family -- who are moving from Oregon to Wichita with their beloved pet, a 10-year-old German shepherd named Irgo.